1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical devices and particularly to devices that are used in arthroscopic surgical procedures that involve knee reconstructive surgery where a surgeon forms a ligament tunnel through the patient's knee to receive a prosthetic or biologic ligament replacing the anterior or posterior cruciate ligament.
2. Prior Art
The present invention is for use in anterior or posterior cruciate ligament repair and replacement surgery where tibial and femoral bony tunnel sections are formed for maintaining a ligament spanning the intra articular joint. In such procedure, with the knee bent appropriately, a straight bony tunnel is formed from a single incision to intersect both the ligament points of origin. The present inventor is an inventor of several patents and inventions that utilize such straight bony tunnels, including "Ligament Attachment Method and Apparatus", U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,286; "Ligament Attachment Anchor System", U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,957; and certain patent applications in an "Endosteal Fixation Stud and System" filed Jan. 16, 1990, Ser No. 465,914, and in a patent application for "Apparatus and Procedure for Verifying Isometric Ligament Position", filed Sept. 19, 1988, Ser. No. 246,324.
The present inventor is also an inventor of a drill guide, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,711, that is utilized in a straight bony tunnel that is formed through both the distal femur and proximal cortexes that opens through incisions in the skin at both tunnel ends. This drill guide references a K-wire that is fitted through the bony tunnel and allows a transverse hole to be drilled from any point around the knee to exactly intersect the ligament tunnel. Whereas, the present invention is in a drill guide that needs to be installed through one ligament tunnel end only. Accordingly, the drill guide of the present invention is utilized in a straight ligament tunnel for guiding the drilling of transverse hole into the knee to intersect that bony tunnel as part of a surgical procedure that is minimally invasive.
Additional to the earlier drill guide of the present inventor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,711, set out above, other drill guide arrangements have been developed for utilization in cruciate ligament repair or replacement procedures. For example, patents to Sapeya, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,751; Cho, U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,411; Hourahane, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,768; Hourahane, U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,957; and a United Kingdom patent to Lovell, et al, No. 2,078,528, all show arrangements for drilling cruciate ligament tunnel sections through intra articular joint from a point on the proximal tibia or distal femur surfaces to intersect the end of a guide that is positioned on a cruciate ligament point of origin. Such earlier drill guides, of course, do not reference a straight ligament tunnel, as does the present invention, nor are they useful for drilling a transverse hole thereto. Additionally, patents to Seedholm, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,233, and a European patent application No. 0126529, show a prosthetic ligament and drill guide for preparing tibial and femoral tunnel sections.
None of which above cited references, are structurally or functionally like the drill guide of the present invention.